Obama sports smile in2nd term White House portrait

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Last Updated: Sat, Jan 19, 2013 09:10 hrs

Looking at the new official portrait of President Obama released by the White House on Friday, which is markedly different from the one taken four years ago after he won his first historic election, it seems that happy days are back again.

The new colour photo shows the current US President standing tall, flashing a big smile, his arms folded, flanked by flags and standing in front of his desk in the Oval Office, The New York Daily News reported.

In the 2008 photo the President looked somewhat somber, the setting was bland and unrecognizable, with flags over his right shoulder.

While the first photo was taken as the nation was rocked by a recession and mired in two wars, and Osama Bin Laden was on the loose, today the U.S. is out of Iraq and the economy is back on its feet.

The new photo, however, reflects a change and shows his hair now flecked with gray.

White House photographer Pete Souza took the new photo on Dec. 6 with a digital camera, which will replace the 2008 photo in all federal office buildings, including all U.S. embassies around the world. (ANI)